Today's increased attention to nature and the environment has resulted in unprecedented efforts to encourage grasses, low-growing ground cover, and wildflowers on rights-of-way. Thus selective plant control treatments are desirable to remove tall-growing woody plants in vegetation control programs. Not only do such treatment programs result in effective, long lasting brush control, they leave non-target plants such as annual and perennial grasses and other desired plants to thrive because they are freed from competition for moisture, nutrients and sunlight.
One such treatment program consists of the use of basal bark or stem application of an herbicide to control undesired vegetation. This particular method is attractive because it provides not only vegetation control but also efficient placement and utilization of the herbicide composition on individual plants. U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,659 describes this method of treatment with a variety of triclopyr butoxyethyl ester compositions. In addition to this application method to apply herbicides to bark or stems of unwanted plants, it is often more efficient to apply treatments to the leaves of target vegetation, such as is done when herbicide treatments are made using ground or aerial broadcast applications or using ground directed sprays such as with a backpack sprayer or other directed spray equipment.
In order to have the herbicide penetrate into the leaves of woody plant, it is desirable to dissolve the herbicide in a non-aqueous organic carrier. As currently used, as in Garlon™ 4 herbicide, for example, such carriers for foliar applications consist of petroleum distillates such as fuel oils, e.g., diesel oil or kerosene.
However, these carriers present risks not only to the surrounding environment, but also to the applicator. In aerial applications, for example, due to applicator technique or wind conditions, over-spray onto surrounding areas may result during the application.